Fig. 9: The SRI−19 receptor is essential for the increased progeny resilience observed after maternal pre-exposure to P. aeruginosa volatile cues.

a Experimental setup schematic: Age-synchronized L4-stage worms (P0 generation) were exposed for 48 h to either PA14 and OP50 volatile metabolites (top) or PA14 non-volatile secretome and LB media (bottom). After this exposure, exopher production was quantified at the AD2 stage, and embryos from the F1 generation were collected. The P0 worms were subsequently transferred to Slow Killing (SK) plates seeded with PA14, where their survival was monitored. F1 embryos were subsequently transferred to SK plates seeded with PA14, where their survival and development was quantified after 48 h post-infection. Created in BioRender. Kolodziejska, K. (https://BioRender.com/w2ui4aw). b Offspring of hermaphrodites exposed to PA14 volatile metabolites have better survival rate upon PA14 infection (n = 195 worms (for each column), N = 5 independent experiments). c No significant differences were observed in the developmental rate of F1 progeny between control animals and those whose parents were exposed to PA14 volatile metabolites (n = 195 worms (for each column), N = 5 independent experiments). d Exposure of parents to PA14 non-volatile secretome had no significant impact on F1 survival during subsequent PA14 infection (n = 150 worms (for each column), N = 4 independent experiments). e Developmental progression of F1 progeny during PA14 infection was not significantly affected by parental exposure to PA14 non-volatile secretome (n = 150 worms (for each column), N = 4 independent experiments). f Wild-type P0 worms exposed prior to infection to PA14-derived volatile metabolites had similar survival rate comparing to the control group (n = 163 and 165 worms (for respective groups), N = 6 independent experiments). g Wild-type P0 worms pre-exposed to PA14-derived secretome showed no significant difference in survival compared to the control group upon subsequent PA14 infection (n = 52 worms (for each group), N = 2 independent experiments). h F1 progeny of sri-19 mutant worms pre-exposed to PA14-derived volatile metabolites showed no difference in survival upon PA14 infection compared to the control group (n = 135 worms (for each column), N = 3 independent experiments). i Parental exposure to PA14 volatile metabolites did not affect the developmental timing of F1 progeny in the sri-19 mutant background (n = 135 worms (for each column), N = 3 independent experiments). j No significant difference in survival was observed in the F1 generation of sri-19 mutants following parental exposure to PA14 non-volatile secretome (n = 150 worms (for each column), N = 4 independent experiments). k Developmental progression of F1 progeny was unchanged in sri-19 mutants whose parents were exposed to PA14 non-volatile secretome (n = 150 worms (for each column), N = 4 independent experiments). Data information: Data are presented as stacked bar plots (b–e, h–k) and Kaplan–Meier survival curves (f, g); Statistical analyses were performed using the Fisher’s exact test (b–e, h–k) and long-rank (Mantel-Cox) test (f, g); non-significant p values (p > 0.05) are in pink color, significant p values (p < 0.05) are in blue color.